Artificial fingernails and toenails (collectively “nails”) are applied on top of natural nails as a desirable fashion accessory. There are several ways to create artificial nails, such as acrylic nails, gel nails, nail wraps, and full-coverage pre-made nail tips. In order to maximize appearance, durability and comfort on the wearer's finger or toes, it is desirable that the artificial nails fit a user's natural nails properly both in size and shape (where shape includes the contour of the nail). However, the size and shape of a natural nail, for example a fingernail, varies from one finger to another and from one person to another person. Properly fitting an artificial nail onto each of a wide variation of shapes and sizes of natural nails is challenging.
Customized methods, such as acrylic nails and gel nails, are made directly onto each natural finger to fit the exact contour and dimensions of natural nails. However, these custom-made methods are very labor intensive and time consuming. Acrylic nails and gel nails are not re-usable. Once applied, acrylic nails and gel nails will stay on a natural finger all the time until the user takes action to dissolve them into acetone. In addition, the growth of a natural nail will create a gap between its cuticle and the artificial nail, which needs to be filled regularly. Use of acrylic nails and gel nails also creates some health concerns since these materials and their methods of application expose both the user and nail technician to chemical fumes and filing debris. In addition, having a natural nail covered by an artificial nail constantly for a long period of time can seriously damage the nail bed and hamper natural nail growth.
As an alternative to the above-described customized methods, pre-made full-cover nail tips can be applied and removed easily. However, mass-produced nail tips are not customized to a certain user. They are typically made in limited sizes, shapes and styles, and sold in packages containing ten or more nail tips in different sizes, shapes and styles. It is impractical to use an injection molding method to mass-produce artificial nails with massive variations in widths, arch heights, and curvatures that can accommodate all natural nails. As a result, manufactures typically produce a set of pre-formed artificial nails, which has varying widths with a set degree of curvatures. However, a user frequently finds that the available pre-made and pre-packaged nail tips are inadequate to provide the user a proper-fitting artificial nail for each finger. As a consequence, the artificial nails are usually forced into conformity with the contours of the natural nail and then glued onto the natural nail by using an adhesive. However, forcing the artificial nails to conform to the contours of the natural nails means the artificial nails are always seeking to return to their original shape. As a result, not-properly-fitted artificial nails lift up and peel off easily and quickly. In addition, improperly fitted artificial nails leave a space between themselves and the natural nails, which creates an area where bacteria and fungus can potentially develop.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have a system and process to create custom-fit artificial nails quickly and easily without compromising the health of both the user and the nail technician. U.S. Pat. No. 7,123,983 titled “System and Process for Creating Custom Fit Artificial Fingernails Using a Non-Contact Optical Measuring Device” to Yogo et al. uses an optical 3D measuring device to digitize the topographical configuration of a natural nail surface and then an artificial nail is digitally designed. This system uses a computer numerical controlled (“CNC”) machine to mill out each artificial nail. This direct CNC machining method can ensure proper-fit but is still very time consuming, costly and requires considerable work to turn a machined piece into the final artificial nail. In addition, it is also not desirable to perform the CNC machining in a nail salon environment and usually an off-site machining center is needed. As a result, a user cannot have the artificial nails done on-site right after the measuring and has to wait for shipping of the custom-fit artificial nails. Therefore, there is a need for a way to create custom-fit artificial fingernails without these limitations and potential problems.
In view of the foregoing, and as part of an improved way of manufacturing custom-fit artificial fingernails it would be desirable to have a device or tool to measure a natural nail's topographical information, such as nail arch shape and nail arc length, and provide improved accuracy for using this information to create custom-fit artificial nails.